Sports
FIFA appoints Nigerian based UN official as Secretary General
FIFA broke new ground by appointing a Nigerian based Senegalese United Nations official as its first female and first non-European secretary general on Friday.
Fatma Samoura has no experience working in sports but FIFA President Gianni Infantino hopes that will help it try to regain the trust and credibility of the world.
“We want to embrace diversity and we believe in gender equality,” Infantino told the FIFA Congress in Mexico City.
The 54-year-old Samoura, who will replace the fired Jerome Valcke if she passes an eligibility check, is currently working in development for the U.N. in Nigeria.
“She is used to managing big organizations, big budgets, human resources, finance,” Infantino told FIFA’s membership. “She will bring a fresh wind to FIFA – somebody from outside not somebody from inside, not somebody from the past. Somebody new, somebody who can help us do the right thing in the future.”
Read also: NFF crisis: Giwa, Effiong, three others get 5-year ban
Samoura, who speaks French, English, Spanish, and Italian, appears to have no experience dealing with commercial deals and broadcasters – a key part of the job as FIFA’s top administrator.
FIFA said she coordinates the activities of around 2,000 staff members, and “monitors and evaluates the security, political, and socio-economic situation and trends in Africa’s most populous country.”
“She has a proven ability to build and lead teams, and improve the way organizations perform,” Infantino said. “Importantly for FIFA, she also understands that transparency and accountability are at the heart of any well-run and responsible organization.”
Also, FIFA lifted Indonesia’s suspension from world soccer. Indonesian national and club teams, referees, and officials were banned over government interference in the running of the national federation.
Indonesia was readmitted after the government agreed to end its suspension of the soccer federation, but the national team has missed out on qualifying for the 2018 World Cup and 2019 Asian Cup while banned.
Benin and Kuwait are suspended due to government interference in their federations’ independence.
RipplesNigeria… without borders, without fears
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.
INVESTIGATION: In Kwara, multimillion-naira milk processing plant is abandoned, converted to a chicken outlet
After the government spent millions of naira to establish a milk processing plant in Kwara State that would provided jobs...
SPECIAL REPORT: For Sokoto communities, promise of healthcare is akin to death sentence
In this story, ABDULRASHEED HAMMAD delves into the dire realities of Primary Health Care services in Sokoto State, shedding light...
ICYMI…SPECIAL REPORT: NNPCL hides behind PIA to frustrate disclosure, accountability
Nigeria’s major oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), in what appears to be a common practice of disregard...
INVESTIGATION: Multi-million naira Ekiti resort center remains uncompleted a decade after
The multimillion-naira project, expected to comprise recreational buildings, now consists of cassava farmland, a bush used for excretion, and a...
SPECIAL REPORT: Torturous experiences of students with disabilities in Oyo tertiary institutions
For students with disabilities in Oyo state-owned tertiary institutions, learning is a torturous and distressing experience, considering the building structures...